I think this will be a short entry today. It’s afternoon and we have had a busy morning. As I sit down to write this though, I’m also watching my neighbor across the street, (Jason, — not Dan) as he is trying to put out his Christmas yard crap, I mean his beautiful decorations. He’s working on a shiny reindeer at the moment and has been now for awhile. It doesn’t seem to be going well for him, He starts at the end of September by filling his yard with all manner of Halloween blow-up stuff. It doesn’t look overly ugly at night but during the day when they are all laying there deflated in the yard, —- well it looks like piles of multi-colored “cow patties” laying in his yard. As soon as Halloween is over, he takes it down and replaces it all with blow-up Thanksgiving stuff, although war Star Wars figures have to do with Thanksgiving is obviously Pilgrims that I never heard of. So now, they lay deflated in the yard and he is starting on Christmas. Bless his heart, at least he keeps a holiday spirit going. I can’t grudge him that. But the deer is new this year so I’ll be interested to see how it all ends up. And —- he obviously has a lot more patience than I do . 

Ms. Kate and I started our morning off very early  this morning. She had to be at Gateway Hospital Campus at 0700 this morning. She was scheduled for an MRI at 0715. The procedure took about an hour. After we finished there we went up to the churches and ran the bulletins for Sunday. Even though I’m not going to be there, I still have to plan the service and run the bulletins. All the guest pastor has to do is show up and preach the message for the day. I don’t know and have never heard the lady that will be filling in for me. The St. Lucas Council president made the contact. But, since we now record our services,  I’ll be able to listen to and see her on Facebook. 

(Jason just finished the first deer and it looks like he’s going for a second!!)

So, now Ms. Kate and I are just waiting for a call from her doctor’s office to give us the results of her MRI. Of course we know that it could be tomorrow before we hear anything. That is why we cancelled our plans to go spend the week with Lisa and family’s at Myrtle Beach. We just didn’t know what to expect but thought it could take a while for results. I hate waiting. 

It is 55 degrees out and I have a front yard that could use the John Deere run across it again to mulch more leaves. It’s a good stress reliever so I think that’s where I’m headed next. 

Have yourself a great day. Peace. 

 Wow, one more day of November; can you believe that?? It has started off as a cold one this morning. It was 21 degrees when I came out to get my coffee this morning. Any Backyard Buffet guests that are out there are all fluffed up to keep warm. Squirrels that were “slim” yesterday are fat dudes this morning, or at least they look that way. Cardinals and other birds too are fluffed out when they are sitting on the branches. The only guys that are not that way were the wrens because I don’t think they ever stop and just sit. 

The weekend is gone. The first Sunday of Advent has come and gone and it was a well attended service at both churches. Julie and Jim have gone home and life is back to a quiet normal around here. And —- the house is warmer because since the dogs are gone we don’t have to leave the doors to the sun porch open. That area is unheated and it does get rally chilly out there. I don’t mind it so much but Ms. Kate says that she is always cold. So, she should be much more comfortable now. 

We are supposed to be going on vacation this week but we are not actually “going” anywhere. Kate has a doctor’s appointment tomorrow morning and may have a follow-up later in the week so we are staying home. I’m still gong to take next Sunday off as a vacation Sunday. The churches had already made the arrangements for a guest pastor so I decided to just take the Sunday off. Depending on how the doctor’s appointments go, we may take a daytime road trip or two. We’ll just have to see how everything plays out.  The weather is supposed to be excellent all week so we could actually take a trip if we are able to do so. 

I participated in a nice wedding on Saturday. The service was at a Catholic Church and it was a beautiful sanctuary indeed. They have renovated it during the COVID year, They have replaced all of the old wooden flooring with marble flooring, repainted everything, put in new LED lighting  and it is really bright. I can’t begin to imagine what all of that must have cost. But, what I didn’t feel was the “warmth” that I feel when I go into my two little country churches. It was very, what I call “tall-steeple” church. The money was obvious, the love —-maybe not so much. But I’m sure their parishioners love their church as much as our parishioners love our churches. 

I don’t know if \any of you have Discovery Plus on your television sets, but we do, I love many of the shows thy have on there and my subscription gives me no commercials during my shows. They break their shows down by genre and one of the genres that I love is “animals and wildlife” documentaries. I started watching one last night called “Serengeti II” and it is excellent. A couple of years ago they had the first one simply called “Serengeti” and I have loved watching that one several times. The documentary covers a year in the life of several species of animals; elephants, cheetah, leopards, lion, baboon\. It is narrated by Lapita Nuongo, a wonderful actress from Africa. If you get a chance to watch it, I highly recommend it. 

I guess that is it for today. I think we are going to get ready and maybe go to Sam’s Club today. Ms. Kate wants to get some gift cards today and that is a great place to get them for a little better price. Of course while we are there, I’ll sneak in a package of cherry turnovers. 

So, enjoy your last two days of November and then jump right on to December. Give thanks to God for another month in which God blessed you and give thanks to God for giving you another month in which to do some great things. Peace my friends. 

 Thanksgiving has officially come and gone; can you believe it? We are four days from it being December and 35 days from it being 2022. But God has blessed us with a much better and more normal year than we had last year so I give God praise and gratitude for that. Well, I say it was normal, but I guess what I mean is that it was more normal for me and my family. It is sometimes hard to look out side our little bubble and see what is going on in the rest of the world. Yes, people are still dying from COVID in this country and around the world. But I don’t really know what is happening with COVID in the rest of the world because it has become “old news” and back-page news. I know that my grandson’s fiance grandmother just died of “COVID but then she was in her 90’s sos that wasn’t necessarily a COVID death but because she had some of the symptoms, it gets listed that way. 

Did you eat lots and lots yesterday? We had a great meal but we didn’t really “over indulge”. We had our turkey, we had our dressing and the other required stuff. We forgot the mashed potatoes until we were getting ready to sit down but figured out that we didn’t really need them. We didn’t starve for lack of mashed potatoes. Beside, we’ll probably have some today before the day ends. I know we will be having turkey for sure. The bird turned out very well. It was really moist and juicy. 

Jim will be heading back home today but Jules is staying until Sunday. I don’t know if he is taking the pups with him or not. He brought the big Christmas tree up from the storage room yesterday afternoon. I will rearrange the living room today and put that together. We went out Friday and bought another tree to put in the sun porch. It is a little shorter at six and a half ft and sits in a pot and is “flocked. It’s a nice tree and frankly looks good with no decorations on it. 

This afternoon I have to go to the church and pick up my robe and stole for the wedding and then go to the wedding rehersal . Tomorrow is the wedding at 1400 and will take a few hours of the day. I’m just giving the homily for the wedding and the Priest is doing the rest of the service. It looks like it is going to be a beautiful day for the wedding albeit cold. 

So, that’s about it for today. Have a wonderful weekend. You can get your house decorated for Christmas now and turn on the Christmas carols. I just put a Mannheim Steamroller album on. Peace. 

 A good late morning to you. It’s 1100 already. But, I just got back from the grocery store. Had a list of items to pick up, some from Ms. Kate and some from Julie. I have become the grocery shopper \\\\for us. I put my list on my phone and walk around in the store like I know what I’m doing. Today I went to Schnucks. Usually I go to the Walmart Neighborhood store. But, I got everything on my list. I usually do. It was a good experience today, no grumpies rushing through the aisles or cutting in front of me. 

Jules and the pups came over yesterday afternoon. Jim didn’t come because he is switching jobs and had to have a drug test for the new job. I’m sure if he will be making it over or not. He is a forklift driver which is a skill in demand for companies that do manufacturing. See, not everybody needs a college education. I keep telling people that and I try to push young people into skilled labor jobs. The country is in serious need of skilled laborers.

Tomorrow is turkey day. We already have the bird out thawing. Kate took the giblets out and went over it to pick off any pin-feathers. That is one big turkey that we have. I don’t know if we have ever had one that big. I have a lady at church that says they get at least a 20 pounder every year. But she always has all of the family over so I guess it works for her. I just know we are going to have a lot of left overs. 

I don’t have much else for you today. I did fill all of my bird feeders yesterday and thank goodness my Wild Birds Unlimited order arrived. I was out of several things. I pray you will have a blessed Thanksgiving. Don’t just make it a day of eating and watching football, make it a day of being truly grateful for your blessings. Peace. 

 

 Brrrrrr! It’s 31 degrees out there and that’s not bad, but —- the wind will drive all 31 degrees right through you. And there is a cloud cover preventing the sun from breaking through to at least make me think it is warm. 

Happy Thanksgiving week. Do you have your turkey or ham purchased yet? I may have told you but we did our grocery shopping on-line at the Walmart Neighborhood market. We had ordered a 10-14 lb bird and ended up with a 22 lb bird. We never buy a turkey that large and since there is only maybe the four of us, —- there will be turkey leftovers forever. But, we’ll send a bunch home with Julie, and we’ll make a large pot of turkey noodle soup. (I need to go to the store and get some wide egg noodles for that). I do like my soups. 

Julie was supposed to come down today but that won’t happen. She had a RA flare-up and will be spending the day on “Flexural” to try to calm it down. Bless her heart, she only got two hours of sleep last night, so she will try to make it tomorrow. We don’t yet know whether Jim will be working or not or when he will make it down. 

Church services went well yesterday. Attendance was pretty good. The taping of the St. Lucas service went well although, we had a problem with the screens. The computer decided to reboot and update just as we were about to start the service and that knocked out the screens. It’s a good thing that I still make bulletins for folks to use and follow the liturgy because they certainly needed them yesterday. Both churches got decorated for Christmas after their respective services. They are beautiful as always. One of the key features of the St. Paul’s decorations is the string of luminaries that run from the highway all the way up the driveway to the church. They gave been putting those out for decades and at night they really show up especially since they are on a hill that is in the middle of a prairie. It all just adds to the “country small-church charm”. Years ago they used to uses actual candles on the church and they kept a bucket of water and a person to tend the tree right there during services. It scares me to even think about that. But, I’ve never heard of a fire being started by it. 

This week I not only have Thanksgiving but also have a wedding to do on Saturday and a wedding rehearsal on Friday night. And, at some point, I’ll need to go run bulletins. We start our vacation next week so I gotta get stuff done. I’d also like to run up to the Gastoff Amish Village Bakery \to get a lemon angle food cake but I don’t know that that will happen. It is a 57 mile trip one way which is a long way to go to get a cake. But. They are soooo good. The village also has a buffet restaurant so  of course we’d eat while we are there. 

That’s it for this morning. Have a wonderful week. Try to stay warm and dry. Peace. 

 Happy cold Saturday morning to you. I’m sitting at the kitchen table loking out at my neighbor’s maple tree. Just a few days ago I took a picture from my seat, through my kitchen window of that tree. It was a beautiful fall picture and the leaves were full on the tree and were a beautiful orange and gold. Today, there are hardly any leaves left on it. That tree made the best out of fall and then dropped its leaves and is ready for winter. I had gone over and mulched up Dan’s leaves while I was out doing mine. Now you can’t tell I was ever there. It’s not terrible outside this morning but is 41 degrees and you wouldn’t want to stand out there in your skivvies. 

We started out yesterday like we seem to do many days now, with a doctor’s appointment for Ms. Kate. But this was a “routine” annual appointment for a Doppler test to check her arterial blood flow. Last year she showed about 40% blockage which the doctor says is still okay. They don’t seem t get worried until you go above 60%. We haven’t heard yet about yesterday’s test, I don’t know if she can go on “My Chart” to find out or not. I need her to check on that. She doesn’t have a follow-up appointment until I think early December. 

Yesterday afternoon we each spent some time straightening out our areas. Kate has finished making all og her Christmas cards (I think) and now has to find a place to put all of her stuff away. She moves a bunch of it out into the family room so she can watch television while she works and has stuff spread across the couch and the floor etc. It works alright for when it is just her and I because we can walk around it, but Julie, Jim, and the pups are coming over next week so she needs to try to get it in her office. She has so much stuff for her various crafts that I think I bed to build a 20’x40’ extension on the house. LOL. That might hold most of it. But, she does beautiful work so I can’t complain.. Besides —— have you been in my garage????? That’s where I started yesterday. I first of all went out back and cleaned up my little storage shed so I could move some of my stuff back out there where it belongs; yard tools and stuff. During the spring through fall period, I just put stuff in the garage as I use it so it is handy. I also have to tackle my big yard barn so I can get the little JD in there for the winter. I think that is going to be at least a two day effort. 

But now, I need to put it away, partly because a certain short person who lives here insists on putting up Christmas trees  and they are in a storage area in the garage that I can’t get to yet. So, I spent a good deal of time \clearing the area and carrying stuff around the house to the back yard. I’ll be spending a good deal of time out there again today. I know Christmas trees are nice when they are put up and decorated and all, but I don’t get it. I’d set a ceramic tree on the coffee table and call it done. Somebody though has boxes and boxes, and boxes of ornaments, many of which she has made, and each one is her favorite, and she wants the trees, (yes, plural) put up so she can decorate them. They will be up for a month and then I have to put it all away again. (SIGH!!!) Except for Julie and Jim and two dogs, it’s not like anybody is going to come to our home and see them. Oh well, —- it keeps me off of the streets and out of the bars. LOL

Enough foolishness for today. I pray you will have a wonderful and faith-filled weekend. Take time to give thanks for another week of blessings no matter what kind of week you had. God did more for you than you know. Peace. 

 Good morning my friends. It is a sunny 41 degrees out this morning but the sun is shining brightly. Unfortunately the sun isn’t going to help much as the temperature is only going to go up another maybe five degrees. I’m glad that I went out and did some yard work yesterday because today is going to be a busy day and yesterday was 70 degrees instead of 45. 

Yesterday I did get on the John Deere’s and mowed one last time and mulched up the leaves. I went over to neighbor Dan’s and did his front yard too. His maple tree had started shedding its leaves and their yard was pretty thick with leaves. We had a lot of wind yesterday and we also had rain last night. This morning it is hard to tell I did anything over there and his tree is now at least 60% empty. He’ll be back from vacation next week so the leaves are all his to deal with. It’s time for me to put the little JD in my yard barn and then change out the mower deck for the snow blade on the big JD. I always tell myself that if I put the blade on, maybe I won’t have too use it, but if I don’t put it on, it will snow like crazy. I think of it as a snow preventer not a snow remover. LOL

This morning Ms. Kate and I have to go to the churches and run the bulletins. I think I’ll run this weeks and next weeks since I have them both ready to print. Next week is Thanksgiving week and there will be enough going on that it would be one less thing to worry about. I left my truck up there Sunday so we’ll bring it back home today. Then this afternoon I have to take the Prius to the dealership for its 25,000 mile servicing. It’s really a great little car. I get 55 mpg with it which is phenomenal. My truck is lucky to give my 19 mpg but it is my baby. I love my truck. LOL It is a 2008 and I only have less than 50,000 miles on it. I think the neighbors have used it more this year than I have. They have a kid that moved into a college Odem so they have borrowed it a few times. It looks as good as the day I drove it off of the sales lot back in 2008. 

Once I get the Prius serviced maybe I’ll still have time to go to the grocery store. If not, tomorrow is another day although it is scheduled to be a busy one too starting with another doctor’s appointment for Ms. Kate first thin in the morning. But, we have to get to the grocery soon. Thanksgiving is exactly one week from today. Wow! Did I just say that?? Suddenly it seems to be rushing up on me. 

I guess I better get changed and get ready for my day. Have a wonderful day. Peace. 

 November 16th already, wow! There is only a month and a half left of the year 2021. Does that seem possible? I guess it is so different this year because at least for my life, we are pretty much “back to normal”. We go where we want, do pretty much what we want, we’re planning vacations, holding church services. For the most part, we aren’t wearing masks and COVID is “back-burner” concern, at least in my life. I certainly know that it is not that way for everyone.. There are still people getting COVID, there are still people dying from COVID, but I think we have become numb and immune to the rhetoric and accusations from politicians and people like Dr. Fauci. In fact we hardly hear from him anymore. I guess he made enough millions from the pharmaceutical companies to be quiet for a while. But, the virus is still raging in other countries and there are flare-ups in this country so we still need to be careful. 

What this is leading me up to is the fact I have been busy planning for the Advent Season and this year, as opposed to last year, we will be worshipping together and holding in-person Christmas Eve services.. And —— we are going too be having a Children’s Christmas program at both churches this year. I am thrilled. It has been at least three years since we did a children’s program at St. Lucas, and this will be the first children’s program I can remember at St. Paul’s. I have had my Confirmands do readings in the past but I don’t remember ever having a children’s Christmas program. I am thrilled beyond words. All praise to God. 

Yesterday I had to have Ms.. Kate at the hospital first thing for a pelvic and kidney ultrasound examination. That came about as a result of her last doctor’s appointments. But, I’m glad to say that the ultrasound show \them nothing of what they were looking for, whatever that was. She’s doing so much better with the diverticulitis. Again, I give God praise. 

This morning I’m expecting St. Vincent DePaul to come and pick up the couch and chair that Ms. Kate and I took out of our bedroom. I have a couple of \rocking chairs that I need to try to bring up stairs once that furniture is out of the way. I may just wait for Jim to come over at Thanksgiving and have him help me or —- I might just try to do it myself. I can maybe get it done if I take my time. However, furniture, stairs and I don’t always make a good combination. I certainly don’t want a repeat of two years ago. 

So, I better sign off and get cleaned up before the truck gets here to carry out the furniture. After that we are going to do a little shopping I think. Have yourself a wonderful day. It is supposed to be sunny and bright around here and maybe even go up to 70 degrees. I need to fill bird feeders today. Peace. 

 Happy Friday. I think my Accuweather app is confused or doesn’t know where we are. According to it, —- rain will be starting in eight minutes and will last for the best part of an hour. However, the sun is shining quite nicely at the moment, at least in the front of the house. Out back and to the west —- well, that’s a possibility. My cousin Debbie lives over in DuQuoin, IL and sends pictures every morning of the sunrise while she is on her walk. This morning it was definitely a “Red sky in morning, Sailor take warning” sky. So who knows? 

We’re doing laundry this morning, already have the second (and final) load going in the washer. It was wash the sheets day and we got an early start because a robo-caller woke us up at 0730. Of course by the time we got out of bed and answered the phone they hung up and left no message. We don’t usually get robo-calls that early. Our first one of the day is almost always “Amy, from Card services”. She calls at 0830 every morning, and frankly I’m just a little worried about Amy because she hasn’t called yet today and it is now 1000. I hope she’s okay LOLOLOL. I’d call her but she uses so darn many different phone numbers. 

Yesterday morning, first thing, we went to the doctor’s office so Ms Kate could have some blood drawn. She was supposed to have it done a week ago and things got wrapped around the axel and didn’t get it done. After that she mentioned going out for breakfast at Denny’s since it is right on the way back home. So we went for pancakes. I didn’t remember that it was Veteran’s Day so the place was packed with retired military guys coming in for the free Grand Slam. I try to stay away from those events and didn’t take advantage of it yesterday because I wanted pancakes. So many guys flock to those and will stand in long lines to get that “free meal” as if it is owed to them. I figure that America doesn’t owe me a thing. In my thirty two years of service, I never missed a paycheck. I figure we each filled our agreement, I serve honorably and they pay me for my work. But — different strokes for different folks I reckon. I get aggravated at the whining that my generation does because they came home from Vietnam and no one said “Thank-you”. But it’s been 50 years, get over it. 

Okay, I’m off before I pull out my soapbox. Have a great day. Peace.. 

 57, (now that’s more like it,) degrees outside this morning. And it is going up to 70 again today. I have rearranged my plans for today so that I can be home and get back out in my garden and flowerbeds. I was supposed to go do a visitation today but I begged off and will do it tomorrow. Tomorrow it is supposed to rain all morning and clear off in the afternoon, but get cold again. That’s not good gardening weather but it is fine for visitations. 

Ms. Kate and I “did a thing” yesterday morning. We had a couch in our bedroom that we are giving away to St. Vincent de Paul charities. She and I had moved it into the bedroom several years ago and it was a bear to do it. We’ve been talking about how we were going to get it back out of there for a couple of weeks now and the pick up day is approaching. I think the guys that are coming to get it would have moved it but as tight of a squeeze as it is, I’m not sure. Besides, Ms. kate said she didn’t want any strangers in her bedroom. So, that meant either she and I try it or I wait until my son-in-law Jim could come over from New Albany. Julies had offered to help this past weekend but with her severe RA, no way were we going to allow that. So, —- Mr. and Mrs. Stubborn took on the job yesterday morning by ourselves. It took a while and it took a lot of \grunting and finagling, but we managed to get it to the front door hallway. We felt quite accomplished and have decided to call ourselves “The Old Fart Moving Company”. LOL  Of course we weren’t worth a crap for the rest of the day. 

After the couch move we needed to go to Office Depot. Kate wanted to have a self inking stamp made to stamp “Hand Crafted by Kathy” on the back of all of these cards she makes. We were happy to find out that they can make them right there in the store and it only took about 30 minutes. So we shopped around and I tried out all of the office chairs while we waited. It was a good deal. 

Then, believe it or not, we actually went out for lunch. Keep in mind that this is the first time Ms. Kate has been anywhere except for a doctor’s office in about a month. Granted, she has gone on a quick trip \when we would order food out and go pick it up and go right back home. But — we actually went to Logan’s Roadhouse and went inside and had our meal. It’s been five or six weeks since we have actually “gone out” to eat. It felt wonderful. The take away from that story is that Ms. Kate is feeling that much better and is, (I hope) back to normal. All praise to God. Now we wait for the two ultrasounds to be done. The antibiotics seemed to have done the trick for her though. 

So, after all of those good things yesterday, I went downstairs to my office and I got some good work done down there too. So, all in all, Tuesday was an excellent day. I hope yours was too. Now, I need to get out of my pajamas and into my jeans and get outside. Daylight is burning and during this time of the year it burns quickly. 

Have a blessed day. Peace.  

 Okay, the weekend is over. Back to work. We can’t have any of this lazing around and enjoying life stuff, can we?? —— Well of course we can. In fact I plan to do some lazing around my self today. It is going to be 70 degrees and I plan to do some yard work today that needs to be done that I have been putting off because of this or that reason, mostly weather related. But today promises to be a perfect day. But, somehow I don’t think it is going to meet the “lazy” criteria. But it will be relaxing, at least by the time I plant my butt in my recliner sometime this afternoon, I’ll relax for sure. 

How was your weekend. Ms. kate and I had a good one. She is feeling better. The antibiotics have kicked in and most of the pain she has been feeling has dissipated. She still has the nausea, but I think that is mostly reaction to the antibiotics. And, if she sits very long, she has to go lay down and stretch out because she starts to cramp up. But, she is so much better than she was. Today is her last day of antibiotics. Now we wait for the two ultrasounds that she has to have. Maybe by then we can find out what is really going on with her. We know it is diverticulitis, but there is the possibility that there may be something else in the works. 

But, Julie came down this weekend and spent Friday night through Sunday morning with us. Ms. kate and Julie made two apple pies, and they are delicious. One is already gone of course and the other has a dent in it. I can’t imagine what happened there. I’d say maybe a mouse got to it but I’ve never seen a mouse cut a perfect wedge out of a pie like that. Hmmmmm. What can I say, pies are made to be eaten and I follow the rules. 

We had good fairly good attendance at the churches yesterday. It was really good at St. Paul’s\, we served communion to 32 folks at St. Paul’s. It is so good to see the attendance growing like that and it is especially good to see so many young children in the church. The cycle has come around at that church and a new generation is coming along, and we have two more babies on the way. Attendance at St. Lucas was good, but could be better We only served about 37 for communion at St. Lucas. I can think of at least 15 people that were out yesterday for one reason or another. But, we take what we get and I am grateful for each one that shows up. I just have to always remind myself that it isn’t about me and it isn’t about the numbers. It’s about serving those who do come, and praying for those who do not. Heck, Ms. Kate hasn’t been in maybe six weeks because of her health. And I have a few others that are sick too. 

Do you realize that we are only about six weeks from Christmas??  I was working on my schedule last night and wow, We need to get the churches decorated, probably on the 21st because Thanksgiving is the following Thursday and the first Sunday of Advent is the following Sunday. And I have a wedding to prepare for the Saturday after Thanksgiving; and Ms. Kate and I hope to be leaving for Myrtle Beach SC on the 1st of December to spend a few days with Lisa and all of her family. So, I have to prepare sermons and bulletins ahead of time so we can do that. Ms. Kate has been busy making the Christmas cards and has about 85 of them made. I’ll need to sit and address all of those and get them ready to go in the mail. Thank goodness people don’t do the family brag letters anymore or I would have that to do. I promised myself that I would write a dialogue Christmas reading this year for use at the churches but I haven’t even begun on that. Stuff to do, stuff to do. 

But first, I have coffee to drink and Backyard Buffet guest to watch on this beautiful morning. Have a great week. Peace. 

 Happy weekend, I hope you are having a great Friday and have a fun weekend planned. It’s a brisk but sunny 38 degrees outside and the feeders have lots of guests at them. The better news is that the temperature is going to keep climbing back up to “normal” for the coming week so we’ll be seeing 60 degree temps again.

Last night I fixed us a pot of “steel-cut” oats to have for breakfast this morning. They were really good and they do a good job of warming up the tummy. I had too much liquid on them though. The directions call for 4 cups of water to 1 cup of grain. But I deviated from the cooking instructions. You are supposed to bring the water to a boil and then put the oats in and turn on low heat and cook for thirty minutes. But, Julie says to boil the water, dump in the oats, stir, cover and remove from the heat and let them sit over night. That’s what I did.. Maybe next time I’ll use three cups of water instead of four. We chefs play with our recipes don’t you know. Bwahahahahha. 

I have a couple of counseling sessions going on this afternoon. I enjoy those. Actually, the first one isn’t so much counseling as just going over what my part is going to be in their wedding. They are getting married in her church and she is Catholic. I don’t know if he is gong to change over to Catholic faith or not. Bless him if he does, as long as they keep God as the center of their marriage, I don’t care what church they attend. 

Julie is coming down this weekend. She has to help the manager of the University of Evansville bookstore with an event this evening. She was just up in Indianapolis two days ago doing the same thing. That girl keeps herself too darn busy. It’s no wonder her immune system suffers a lot. Unfortunately, all of our girls are “work-a-holics”. Any way, she’ll be here this evening and work at the college. Then she will spend tomorrow with us visiting and then head home on Sunday because she has some more research to do for for her college class. She is down to just a couple of called until she receives her Bachelor’s  Degree. Ya’ see what I mean ——- a workaholic. 

That’s it for today my friends. I pray you have a wonderful weekend. I pray you will take the time out and observe a Sabbath with the Lord God who has provided your every blessing this week. Peace. 

 Happy Thursday. It is a feel-good morning, at least while I’m inside. It’s still freezing temperatures outside. But the sun is shining brightly, the leaves are falling from the trees in my yard so I have some more raking to do. I may mow the front yard one more time before I ask Jim to swap the mower deck for the snow blade. My trees out back are probably 60% nude now. I can always tell that the leaves are dropping because the afternoon sun gets in my eyes if I am sitting out there. During the summer that isn’t a problem because there are so many big trees surrounding my yard that it is hard for the sun to get through. 

I’m about 3/4th finished with my sermon for the 14th of November. I want to finish that up this morning while the thoughts are still juicing in my head. This afternoon I need to clean out the garden and get it winterized. The tomatoes need to be pulled up and the okra too. That’s going to fill up my garbage can quickly and I just got it emptied this morning. Gotta do, what I gotta do though. Just because it is 32 degrees out does not mean there is no yard work to do. Although ——- if I let it go for a bit, the cold and frost with dry out the plants and take up a lot less space in my cans. That’s something to consider. See how easy it is to justify not doing something. I just walked myself out of some work today. What a lazy butt I am sometimes. Of course I can also justify it by reminding myself that they weather is going to get even better for next week when the temperatures will rebound to the low to mid 60’s. Oh, this is just too easy. LOL

Ms. Kate seems to be feeling a bit better again this morning. It kind of goes that way. She’s better this morning but it is time for her to go lay down and stretch her tummy out. But she did have a bagel with peanut butter and a banana on it this morning so that is a major improvement. As she is getting better, it sounds like several others of my family are coming down with the flu or something that sounds like the flu. Youngest daughter Lisa is off work and sick with it and you gotta know she is really miserable because she never takes off work. Son-in-law Jim is home sick with the same symptoms, and no they don’t live anywhere close to each other so they didn’t contaminate each other. 

Tine for me to clean up and get the day going. I hope you can get out and enjoy the day and the sunshine. Peace. 

 Wow, Mother Nature got serious last night and woke us up to 30 degrees. With a little help from the sun we might reach 50 today. Not a day that you would want to go dip your toe in the stream.. 

Ms. Kate is still “doing okay” by her definition. This morning she is busy setting up future medical appointments for a couple of weeks out. She has to have a pelvic and kidney ultra-sound in two weeks so she’s working on that. I’m just glad to see her up and functioning. That is a major change. For those of you who have been keeping her in your prayers, I thank you. 

Yesterday was a really busy day for me. As I told you, I had a dental appointment and got that tooth repaired. From there I went and picked up a couple of things that we were needing around the house and came home for lunch. Yesterday afternoon I did some of the “to-do” list stuff and then went out and rearranged the sun-porch and brought in the patio plants. I’m glad I did what with it getting down to 30 last night. It wasn’t a “hard-freeze” per-se but it would have curled the leaves a bit. As long as we have been babying these five plants, I’d hate to lose then because I was too lazy to bring them in. So, the sunporch in in its “winter arrangement” until spring. 

I asked Ms. Kate what she wanted for supper and she said she had gotten some ground chuck out of the freezer and planned to make our version of “goulash”. Well, I knew that I could do that, (with a few directions), so I made supper and it turned out pretty darn well. There is enough for leftover for another couple of meals; at least for me. Kate doesn’t like leftovers. I’m like her mom though. Make a pot of something and eat it every meal until it is gone. 

Finally, last night I got down to my computer in my office and did get some writing done. I got a page and a half written that is pretty good and then I quit because I was beat. Maybe I’ll finish it this evening after I watch Survivor. 

That’s it for today. I need to get ready to go to the churches and run the bulletins, or maybe I’ll just wait and do that tomorrow. There isn’t a rush. Just have to wait and see how it all plays out. 

Have a blessed day. Shalomn. 

 November 2nd. Good morning y’all. I just got home from the dentist office. Had to get my broken tooth fixed. It took longer than I expected it to but when you look at my teeth, you can’t tell which one he fixed which is good because there was a gap there before. So I’m glad that I can smile without scaring folks again. LOL

The good news is that we finally got the results back from the doctors and the radiologists. Ms. Kate has some serious diverticulitis. It was classified as “several instances of diverticulitis”. They had put her on two different medications and then in two weeks she has to go for both a pelvis and a kidney ultrasound. I don’t know what else they are looking for but the good news is that she does feel a bit better today. We’ll smile about that. This isn’t going to be a quick-fix by any means but at least she is on the right path now. 

The temps were right down there this morning at 40 degrees. We are under a light freeze advisory starting tomorrow night through the weekend. Night temperature are supposed to get down into the 30’s. Winter is giving us a taste what what to expect this year I reckon. As you know, I don’t mind the cold, I just don’t want snow and ice. It used to be fun, but not any more. But, the cold means that I have to get the patio plants in the house either today or tomorrow. I don’t mind except that they are heavy because we have had rain and the dirt in them is soaked. It means I also have to rearrange the sun porch area. There is always a chore to be done. 

I got a good start on the service for the 14th of November last night. I had a hard time getting started but I think it is going to work out fine. I need to make some parishioner phone calls today and i also need to send my October mileage to the treasurer of each church. I also have some other church business to take care of today so it is going to be a busy one. Tomorrow I’ll go up to the churches and run the bulletins. Friday I have to go up for a marriage counseling session with a young couple that is getting married at the end of the month. It’s all part of the job and I love it. I’m happy to say that of all of the weddings that I have performed, only one didn’t last, and I admit that I had doubts about that one going in. But I’m getting to baptize the babies of some of my couples now and that is a wonderful thing. It is always a wonderful thing to see couple keep their promises to each other and to God. 

I guess I better stop here and fix lunch for Ms. Kate and me. My lip and gum is about fully de-numbed from the dentist so I don’t have to worry about biting my lip. Have a pleasant day, The sun is shining and The Son is watching over you. Peace. 

 Hello Monday, I see you brought along a new month. Hey there November, you look cold!!! It is pretty chilly this morning and it isn’t going to improve a lot this entire week. In fact, I’m going to have to go ahead and bring in the patio plants I guess. The forecast calls for below freezing temperatures this week. 

We’re having a busy morning. Ms.. Kate had an appointment with Dr. Jackson this morning, first thing to se what he can do about her health issues. He was able to get her in for the CT scan that we have ben waiting on right away so w went from there to Radiology Express and had that done. It didn’t take but a few minutes and now we are just waiting on the results to get back to the doctor and and for the doctor to call us with an answer. If I was a betting man, I’d bet he will call with a prescription for antibiotics. As long as he does it soon and we can get on with starting a cure, 

Yesterday I started my day off by breaking a tooth off while I was brushing it. I was getting ready for church so that was helpful!!!! But it doesn’t hurt because it just broke off an old filling. But it is a front tooth so I could go as “Gap-itis” for Halloween. I had been expecting it to break off because I could feel movement when I brushed my teeth. It will be a simple fix. I have a good dentist. I think he’s 12 years old —- LOLOL. Actually he has to be older than that because I just realized that he has been my dentist for almost twenty years by now. Wow, Time is flying by. Okay, he was probably 12 when I first started seeing him. 

I guess I will start on my November 14th service today since I have to stay close to the phone for Ms.. Kate. I want her to get all the rest she can. She has another bad night last night with getting up and down to walk out pain. Bless her heart. I feel her pain, I know what she’s going through because I’ve been there and had that. But it’s hard when you can’t do anything to help. 

Time to wrap this up and move on to something else. Have a great week. Peace.